Does Religion teach Violence!

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

The debate goes on. Violence goes on. The earth absorbs  all blood. Be it Christian, or Muslim or Hindu, the earth gets a red hue, puddles of red dry out in the sun. The earth gets back her original colour to be reddened again by man's violent orgies against man. Who induces man to kill who are natural mortals? Is it faith in one god that is intolerant of other gods? Is it political intolerance of rival ideologies or man enjoys killing for sadistic pleasure? He beheads animals without batting an eyelid. Kings and heroes kill with riotous pleasure in the name of royal hunting expeditions. Kill for revenge the innocent family of an enemy and call it vengeance. They kill for honour, whatever it means. Moral, honour, revenge, pleasure and even heroic temper and momentary fame are enough to eliminate another fellow man without the compunction of  conscience. But these killings do not always involve groups. Single combat or just murder is committed for personal reasons. Jealousy too is a provocateur for killing. Politicisations of jealousy is often noticed in history. Julius Caesar, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi were  victims of political hate and jealousy. Indira Gandhi was killed for revenge. And Mahatma Gandhi was eliminated for contrarian ideology. But how to explain the massacre that followed   the partition of India? How could neighbours kill neighbours? How could Sunnies kill Shias? Hindus the dalits? And to cap it all how could the Islamic state devastate the entire population of Mosul?

The  questions are endless . The history of man is the history of bloodshed. Alexander killed for heroic honour. Wars are always fought for some interest personal, social or religious. War is the last choice - says everyone but wars are fought. Krishna in the Mahabharata tried to broker peace but failed for ego and lust for power supersede all logic, moral, political or survival- the opposition or the  object of hate must be removed from the earth otherwise life and living are worthless. But why should someone kill in the name of religion?  All religions teach love , amity, harmony and mutual tolerance which is next to love in human value hierarchy. Love between two persons too is not tolerated if the lovers have different faith or race, caste or ideology . Christ and Gandhi  loved man much to the chagrin of fellow man. They were sacrificed for man's perpetuation of hate. Poets always  glorify love as the greatest  human value.  All religious thinkers and prophets preach love but love is the first casualty in group conflicts, particularly in religious conflicts. All of them sing " Majhab nehin sikhata apas me bair rahkana" but the song is for entertainment of an audience, never a charter of faith for practice. Gandhi's  Iswar- Allah never became the name of everyone's God.  The world today is divided by gods - be it the middle east, Srilanka, Newzealand or our very own India.

 After partition about 4 crore muslims opted to live in India. We are today , after 72 years of freedom and independent rule 20 crore Muslims and 100+ crore Hindus. We have grown in numbers but we have, it seems grown apart. Communal tension increases moment by moment . The country that is India or Bharat does not matter. Bharat Mata ki  Jai is a militant slogan  according to one of the erstwhile Primeministers . Jai Sriram is a War cry. We are not Indians, we do not have a common inheritance of either history or civilizational attributes. Language, dress, faith and  cultural practices separate us from each other. We never agree on anything that speaks of India. We have   a Hindu narrative of India, muslim India and also  dalit India. The political bosses of the first fifty years of Independence and democratic governance never gave us one India. Secularism could  not unite the communal elements and each group developed its own view or definition of secularism. India is not one family of Indians  although the message on our Parliament Entrance is "The World is One Family".

The protest which now divides the country today is not political, it is at heart religious. The fire stokers who are in the background say Jinnah wali Azadi, or cut off chicken's neck and isolate Assam. The response from others is Golimaro. And on the eve of Trump visit the golis were actually fired. The carnage from either side took  away 53 lives and wounded 300. And even after the mutual fatricide recriminations ring out everywhere. The Parliament ceases to function , the foreign powers and media cry foul and people who are right thinking are silent . The right thinking man is a coward. The gods of the two communities are non-existent but their followers bray for blood. I feel like singing - Majhab Hi Sikhata Apas me Bair karna- Its Religions which teach us hatred , It's faith which sends one to kill his neighbour, it's faith that alone creates  discord. Can this strife ever end? But who wants to end it? If the sane people believe in the efficacy of the logic of existence they should not pray - " The Indian constitution replaces, the Gita, Quran  and the Bible, hence should be withdrawn from circulation". We are Indians , human beings and our faith is in the article of  the Constitution. The rest is private, personal and unworthy of public recognition